Local equestrian takes top honors in field

Published 6:00 pm, Tuesday, December 2, 2003

At last year's San Jacinto Horse Show Association banquet, trainer Holly Davitt pointed out to her student, Kelsey Scudder, the display of prizes given to the champions in the pony hunter division.

"You know, you need to win this next year," Davitt told Kelsey.

"I can win this next year," Kelsey replied.

And she did. At this year's San Jacinto Horse Show Association banquet, which was Nov. 15, Kelsey emerged as champion of the year after months of hard work — months marked by both Kelsey's determination and Davitt's breast cancer.

Davitt, 30, has no family history of the disease. She was diagnosed in June, had a double mastectomy and reconstruction, and is undergoing six months of chemotherapy that will end Feb. 19.

Kelsey found out about the cancer when she overheard her mother talking to Davitt on the phone one day last summer. She could hear the voice of Miss Holly, as Kelsey calls her, coming through the phone.

"All of a sudden I heard her say, 'I have breast cancer,'" Kelsey said. "I heard it and my heart just dropped."

Kelsey is a 12-year-old seventh grader at Branch Crossing Junior High. She began riding in first grade and bought her former trainer's pony, Bailey, about two years ago.

Kelsey was struggling at her former barn, so for her birthday two years ago her parents gave her a lesson with Davitt as a birthday gift. The rider and trainer clicked immediately, said Joi Scudder, Kelsey's mother. A month later they moved to Bridle Creek Farms, the barn in Humble at which Davitt has worked since she moved to Texas in 2001.

Davitt grew up in New Jersey as the youngest of 10 children. Although she liked horses as a child, her parents did not have the money to pay for riding lessons.

Then her father died when she was 11, and to help her grieving daughter take her mind off the situation, her mother found a way to pay for lessons. After a couple of years, however, her mother could no longer afford it, so at age 13 Davitt began working for her lessons — riding and grooming other people's horses, cleaning out stalls and other odd jobs to earn lesson time.

After she graduated high school in 1991, she began working as a riding teacher, a job that enabled her to attend Montclair State University, in New Jersey. She studied there part time for five and a half years until she earned a degree in sociology with a minor in criminal justice.

Davitt never used her degree, however. She just kept working with horses. She and her husband, Charlie, who works in construction, moved to Kingwood to be close to one of her seven brothers and because the Houston area is a less expensive place for two blue-collar workers, as she described herself and her husband, to live.

Davitt has found that the people in her new home have provided her with exceptional support when she needed it most.

A group of people at Bridle Creek Farms organized a horse show to benefit Davitt after her medical bills began mounting because of the cost of chemotherapy.

"She has a big family of people at Bridle Creek who care about her a lot," Joi said.

The benefit was Nov. 9 at Bridle Creek, and more than 75 horses participated in the show, which had events ranging from judged shows in various classes to egg races for the kids to a "doggie jump," in which dogs instead of horses could try leaping over the jumps.

The benefit raised an impressive $10,000, half of which came from a silent auction and the other half from the entry fees riders paid to be in the show and the sale of baked goods, T-shirts, and "breast-cancer bears." Several people paid $100 for the bears, which cost only $5.

"The show was amazing," Davitt said. "… Having people like that come and support me really helps me not feel alone in this disease. You know, sometimes you feel very alone with cancer, and when I saw all those people — and so many of them I didn't even know — it's just an amazing feeling."

Even after the day was over, people continued to show their support. Davitt received cards and checks from strangers who wrote that they had attended the benefit and were breast-cancer survivors.

"The support that I have felt from the horse community is just incredible, just absolutely incredible — from people that I know and also from strangers," Davitt said. "I really think that if this had happened to me in the East Coast, though I was training and teaching up there for 10 years, I just don't think their support would be the same. I think that there's something special about the Houstonians, I really do."

Davitt plans to go back to training full time in February or March, and she still gives lessons occasionally, but in the meantime Kelsey has been working with interim trainer Lee Johnson, of Waller.

Davitt and Kelsey are already looking ahead to the next step in Kelsey's training, which may be the novice equitation division. By Davitt's account, Kelsey has come a long way since that first birthday lesson two years ago.

"When (Kelsey) came to me she was nervous and scared, and her very first lesson she fell off," Davitt said.

But after their first year together Kelsey showed at the pre-beginner level and did well, Davitt said. That's when the pair decided to pursue the pony hunter prize.

Kelsey now rides in the hunter jumper style and competes in the hunter equitation division.

Davitt explained that hunter means a judge looks at the horse's way of moving, if it's pretty and if it jumps well. In equitation, the judge looks at the rider's body position, whether his or her heels are down, eyes are up and shoulders are in the correct position.

Bailey, Kelsey's pony, received the champion of the year award for hunter and Kelsey received champion of the year for equitation, which means that out of all the horses and riders, the judges deemed that Bailey and Kelsey moved and carried themselves the best.

It was no surprise to Kelsey when it was announced at the Nov. 15 banquet that she had won. She had participated in all 12 of the San Jacinto Horse Show Association's shows during the year and had kept track of her points. She realized in October that her 105 points made her the winner.

"I said, 'Oh my gosh, I'm going to be champion,'" Kelsey said. "Then my mom talked to one of the show directors and made sure that I was champion of the year, so I got excited about that."

Davitt is proud of her student's determination to succeed, even when taking what she called "a huge step" from pre-beginner to hunter equitation.

"She is someone who will set her goals and then actually follow through and do them," Davitt said. "She's a pretty amazing kid. She really works hard every single lesson, doesn't goof off.